More than 140,000 passengers had their flights cancelled, delayed or diverted flights due to the drone sightings.

The runway closed on Wednesday night and, apart from a brief spell early in the morning, was closed all of Thursday (December 19).

A British Airways plane comes in to land at Gatwick Airport after the runway reopened (Photo - John Stillwell/PA Wire)

It reopened on Friday morning but closed again briefly that afternoon after another sighting.

With police unable to trace the pilot or the drones, the Army were called in and snipers were reported to be positioned around the airport ready to shoot down any drones.

After the two suspects, named locally as Paul Gait, 47, and Elaine Kirk-Gait, 54, were released, Detective Chief Superintendent Jason Tingley, of Sussex Police, said there was “always a possibility that there may not have been any genuine drone activity in the first place”.

But he added: "We are going through many reports of sightings of drone activity over the last few days.

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“We are meticulously going through that information to see if that produces any other further lines of inquiry, and also where we may focus our efforts in terms of house-to-house inquiries, CCTV footage, and any other information that will help us work through this investigation.”

Det Chief Supt Tingley assured members of the public that specialist measures, including those provided by the military, would remain in place until it was deemed appropriate for efforts to be scaled back.

“I’m confident we will get more information we will respond to, then we will progress an enquiry in order to identify the perpetrator,” he said.

Police officers stand near equipment on the rooftop of a building at Gatwick Airport (Image: Ben STANSALL / AFP)

The damaged drone found close to the airport on Saturday was being forensically examined, the force added.

The arrests of a Crawley couple came after tip offs from the public, DCS Tingley added, and he believes they were justified.

“I’m completely satisfied the arrests were lawful, bearing in mind the burden of proof and likely suspicion at the time of arrest,” he said.

“Obviously we had to be sure prior to release, in terms of that investigation, they were no longer suspects.”

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The senior officer continued: “I won’t apologise, but what I will say is we really do appreciate their co-operation and we have put a lot of effort and resources into supporting them when they were released from questioning.”